University of Portsmouth staff strike over pay

Members of the University and College Union at the university were on strike following a pay offer of 1.1 per cent.

The union says universities can afford to pay more and the offer did little to address the real-terms pay cut of 14.5 per cent since 2009 when inflation is factored in.

The UCU has called for universities to commit to closing the gender pay gap and reducing the proportion of staff on casual and zero-hours contracts.

The union says that the squeeze on staff salaries comes despite vice-chancellors seeing a 6.1 per cent pay hike.

UCU representative at the university Will Medhurst, said: ‘Our strike action is a result of the employers’ failure to deal with the declining real-terms pay of university staff.

‘Members have been left with no alternative but to take this action.’